Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James
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Joseph Patterson'

PATTERSON', Joseph, banker, born near Norris-town, Pennsylvania, 2 February, 1808; died in Philadelphia, 25 September, 1887. His father, John, was a native of Ireland, and his mother, Elizabeth Stuart, was the only daughter of Colonel Christopher Stuart, an officer in the Revolutionary army, who was second in command at the storming of Stony Point. The son engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1842, when he became president of what is now the Western national bank. He afterward was largely engaged as a dealer and shipper of anthracite coal, and owned large collieries in Schuylkill county, but continued president of the bank till his death. On 15 August, 1861, Mr. Patterson participated in the memorable conference in New York between Sec. Chase and representatives of the banking interests of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The secretary asked for a loan of $50,000,000 in gold to aid in defraying the expenses of the war. In view of the alarming condition of the nation's finances, the assembled bankers hesitated to accede to his request. Then Mr. Patterson made an eloquent appeal in behalf of the government, convincing those present that they should furnish the needed money, and the associated banks of the three cities lent the government at that time $50,000,000 at par, and later in the same year $100,000,000 more. From that time the secretary was accustomed to consult Mr. Patterson regarding the financial policy of the government, and his successors in office followed his example. He declined the controllership of the currency twice, and also the post of assistant United States treasurer at Philadelphia. Throughout the civil war he was treasurer of the Christian commission. From 1869 until his death he was president of the Philadelphia clearing-house association. -His son, Christopher Stuart, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 24 June, 1842, was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1860, admitted to the bar in 1865, and elected professor of the law of real estate and conveyancing in the University of Pennsylvania in 1887. He is the author of a, "Memoir of Theodore Cuyler" (Philadelphia, 1879), and "Railway Accident Law--the Liability of Railways for Injuries to the Person " (1886).

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